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BABY GIRL DIES IN CAR AS MOM WORKED ALL DAY — 911 CALL TELLS HEART-WRENCHING STORY
A 15-month-old baby girl died while strapped into her car seat in the backseat of her mother’s car while her mom worked all day. When the baby’s mother returned to the car at the end of her workday, she discovered the baby and by that time, it was too late. While the official cause of death was not immediately known, officials did say they believe the high temperature inside that car was a contributing factor to the death of the baby girl.
Cars Are Starting To Remind Us Not To Leave Baby In The Back Seat
Your car already reminds you of a lot of things. Fasten your seat belt, charge your battery, inflate your tires, fill the tank. Now Congress wants car makers to work in another one: a reminder to check the backseat. The goal is to cut down on the number of kids who die every year in hot cars. On average, 37 kids die each year that way; this year, the toll is 35, and it's only August. The Hot Cars Act of 2017 — recently introduced in the House and the Senate — doesn't specify the form that reminder should take.
If a child is left in a hot car, the vehicle should alert you, advocates for law say
Jennifer Hilton is a loving mother who would never put a child in danger. Until the day she did. On Oct. 6, 2010, Hilton forgot to drop her son Chris at day care — a job her husband usually did — and instead left the toddler in the car when she went to work in south suburban Crestwood. Luckily, Chris was found before he died of heatstroke. Hilton, who has moved out of state, said she now knows this could happen to anyone. She volunteers to speak on the issue through KidsAndCars.org, a Kansas-based safety advocacy group. "You mix exhaustion with a change of routine and stress and you're waiting for a bomb to explode," said Hilton, 41.
No one is immune
National Child Vehicular Heatstroke Prevention Day activities were held nationwide Monday in hopes of preventing child deaths associated with being left in hot cars. Already this year 30 children have died — two in Arizona over the weekend — after being left in hot cars. “No one thinks this can happen to them and that is why technology along with education is critical to preventing these tragedies,” Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org said.
Hot car deaths reach record numbers in July
As of July 31, the number of children across the United States who have died of heatstroke when left in hot cars was at a record high. This year, 29 children have died of heatstroke after being left in a vehicle. That's more than at this point in previous years, according to Jan Null, a certified consulting meteorologist with the Department of Meteorology & Climate Science at San Jose State University. And 11 of those deaths were reported in the past week alone.
